O’Brien has been an outspoken critic of gay rights, denouncing plans for the legalisation of same-sex marriage as “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved”. He was named bigot of the year in 2012 by the gay rights group Stonewall because of his central role in opposing gay marriage laws in Scotland.

Colin Macfarlane, the director of Stonewall Scotland, called for a full inquiry into the claims against the former cardinal. “We trust that there will now be a full investigation into the serious allegations made against ex-cardinal O’Brien,” Macfarlane said. “We hope that his successor will show a little more Christian charity towards openly gay people than the former cardinal did himself.”

And here is another Cardinal demanding that the Vatican press get ahead of a damaging story presently making Vatican City reel. This story—about an as-yet-undisclosed report on gay romps within the city walls:

According to La Repubblica, the report was “an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish” inside the Holy See, with the cardinals finding that one faction of Vatican officials, “united by sexual orientation”, had been subject to “external influence” from laymen with whom they had links of a “worldly nature”, which the paper said was a reference to blackmail.

It quoted a source close to the cardinals as saying that everything centred on “non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments”, which forbid adultery (included homosexual sex) and stealing. The report also mentioned numerous venues in and around Rome where clandestine encounters took place, including a sauna, a beauty parlour and a university residence.